Robot Rickshaw Chauffeurs Chinese Peasant

Wu Yulu's life story belongs in a Disney movie.

The 46-year-old Chinese farmer has built 26 robots over the past 30 years, with no education beyond high school. He says he loves his robots more dearly than his own sons and rides around his village in a robot powered rickshaw.

According to DVICE, "...Yulu's inventions have created some woes for him in the past: he burned down his house once and was driven into severe debt because of it, has had battery acid spilled on him, and his wife even demanded a divorce (she's back, though). Now, however, media attention is turning those Doc Brown frowns upside down, winning Yulu awards and garnering him attention from universities for his research."

Luckily Yulu's Disney story has a happy ending.

Demonstrations of Yulu's robot family below, by YouTube user Britintexas.

• Previously, Chinese Dropout Builds Submarine.